Today the Daily Mail (which Jezebel.com likes to refer to as "the daily fail," with pretty good reason) reported that Rihanna and Ashton Kutcher are secretly hooking up. But it gets weirder: they also claim that Rihanna is going to start studying Kabbalah in order to connect with her new man.Ashton got into Kabbalah through his ex-wife Demi Moore, and it looks like even though their marriage didn't work out he's still into the study of Jewish mysticism. I suppose that's a more interesting … [Read more...]

Prepare for some eye candy: Cuban-American telenovela star William Levy, best known to US audiences for appearing in a Jennifer Lopez video, has joined the latest cast of Dancing with the Stars. Though the actor is of some Jewish heritage (hence the last name Levy), he formally converted to Catholicism in 2009. Did I mention he is hot? Because yeah. Let's hope he can dance, too, because he has to compete against the much better known Gladys Knight, Melissa Gilbert, and Jaleel "Urkel" White. I … [Read more...]

Sean Stone, the son of director Oliver Stone, converted to Islam last week while on a trip to Iran. Sean, who has done some acting and directing work, says that his Hollywood friends didn't take the news so well and that he is now experiencing "the reverse of anti-Semitism." [Is the word you're looking for "anti-Islamism"? Because the opposite of antisemitism would probably be "hating all people who aren't Jews," and there are lots of non-Jews who aren't Muslim either.]"I am of a Jewish … [Read more...]

This week on the Huffington Post, Natalie Pace wrote a recap of an event held by The Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment (GATE), an organization founded by John Raatz. The group aims to bring spirituality into entertainment and the media. But here's my favorite line: Only here, where the ambitious GATE founder -- John Raatz -- and two of his celebrity friends, Eckhart Tolle and Jim Carrey, decided to "plant a new seed to yield a new crop." Jim Carrey, while his stock has gone … [Read more...]

Most celebrities try to strike while the iron is hot, making as much money and promoting their career as much as they can while they're popular. But David Archuleta has his mind on other things--the singer and devout member of the LDS church is going on his two year mission trip.While other Mormon celebrities, like Jon Heder and Aaron Eckhart, did their missions, it was before they became famous. The singer David gets compared to the most, Donny Osmond, was exempted from his mission … [Read more...]

Hasidic Jewish rapper Matisyahu (who filmed a music video in front of my old apartment building one time--true story!) has shaved off his beard. While that doesn't seem like a big deal on the surface, it could mean something much more significant.Matis famously grew up in a non-religious Jewish family and became a baal teshuva, the Hebrew term for someone who adopts Orthodox Judaism voluntarily as an adult. As he grew famous, he stayed true to his identity, refusing to perform on Shabbat and … [Read more...]

America's Next Top Model hostess Tyra Banks probably likes the book Eat, Pray, Love. The model and Harvard Business School student has split with her boyfriend of three years, businessman John Utendahl, and is coping by going on a spiritual retreat in Indonesia. Tyra's publicist told Page Six that "Tyra has gone away with a female friend and has been island-hopping, visiting Bali and taking a spiritual retreat." … [Read more...]